To view the font examples on this page, you
mustinstall the font
(last updated Wednesday, 22-Apr-2009 22:20:30 PDT).

The native Asha'ille writing system is a cursive script called the
kateinu yîréb. See my other page
for a more detailed discussion about the script.

I used FontStruct
to create a scalable-but-not-pretty
TrueType font. It looks best around
16pt, although it is still somewhat difficult to read at that
size. I eventually want to try making a nicer font with
Inkscape and
FontForge, but that will take
more time. So for now, this works well enough.

Example Text

For example of using this basic font, here is the alphabet refrain,
"Kateinu yîréb 'sa migh,
zalojhaiv lnad feipám eg shath dhoò, mlchîshe jo,"
set in the font:

katenu yIrÉb ’sa ႠG, zaloႧv Lad fepáΜ Eğ SaT Do'o, MCISE jo.

Live Converter

Enter romanized Asha'ille in the text box and convert it into kateinu
yîréb on the fly. (Javascript required)

Romanization

Kateinu Yîréb

Character Table

In the table below, the kateinu yîréb
glyphs are oriented for left-to-right writing. The most common orientation is
top-to-bottom, but left-to-right (and two other orientations) are also
acceptable. The glyphs are listed in Asha'ille-alphabetical order.

Sound

Translit.

Glyph

Key

Unicode

Sound

Translit.

Glyph

Key

Unicode

k a t ei n u

/k/

k

k

k

/kə̆ˈk/

kk

ķ

ķ

x0137

/k/

c

c

c

/ɑ/

a

a

a

/ˈɑ/

á

á

á

x00E1

/i/

ä

ä

ä

x00E4

/t/

t

t

t

/tə̆ˈt/

tt

ť

ť

x0165

/e/

ei

e

e

/ˈe/

éi

é

é

x00E9

/ɛ/

ëi

ë

ë

x00EB

/ˈe/

ae

æ

æ

x00E6

/ˈɛ/

äe

Æ

Æ

x00C6

/n/

n

n

n

/nə̆ˈn/

nn

ń

ń

x0144

/u/

u

u

u

/ˈu/

ú

ú

ú

x00FA

/o/

ü

ü

ü

x00FC

y î r e b s

/j/

y

y

y

/j/

y

Y

Y

/ɪ/

î

I

I

/ˈɪ/

î́

Í

Í

x00CD

/ɛ/

ḯ

Ï

Ï

x00CF

/ɹ/

r

r

r

/ɹə̆ˈɹ/

rr

ř

ř

x0159

/ɛ/

e

E

E

/ˈɛ/

é

É

É

x00C9

/ɑ/

ë

Ë

Ë

x00CB

/b/

b

b

b

/bə̆ˈb/

bb

ƀ

ƀ

x0180

/s/

s

s

s

/sə̆ˈs/

ss

ś

ś

x015B

m i gh z l o

/m/

m

m

m

/mə̆ˈm/

mm

μ

μ

x03BC

/m/

m

Μ

x039C

/i/

i

i

i

/ˈi/

í

í

í

x00ED

/ɪ/

ï

ï

ï

x00EF

/i/

i

ĳ

ĳ

x0133

/ˈi/

í

Ⴐ

x10B0

/ɪ/

ï

Ⴑ

x10B1

/x/

gh

G

G

/xə̆ˈx/

ggh

Ĝ

Ĝ

x011C

/z/

z

z

z

/zə̆ˈz/

zz

ź

ź

x017A

/l/

l

l

l

/lə̆ˈl/

ll

ĺ

ĺ

x013A

/o/

o

o

o

/ˈo/

ó

ó

ó

x00F3

/ɔ/

ö

ö

ö

x00F6

jh ai v ln d f

/ʒ/

jh

J

J

/ʒə̆ˈʒ/

jjh

Ĵ

Ĵ

x0134

/ʒ/

jh

Ĳ

Ĳ

x0132

/ɑi/

ai

A

A

/ˈɑi/

ái

Á

Á

x00C1

/ɔ/

äi

Ä

Ä

x00C4

/ɑi/

ai

Ā

Ā

x0100

/ɑi/

ái

Ⴒ

x10B2

/ɔi/

äi

Ⴓ

x10B3

/v/

v

v

v

/və̆ˈv/

vv

Ʋ

Ʋ

x01B2

/l̃/

ln

L

L

/d/

d

d

d

/də̆ˈd/

dd

ð

ð

x00F0

/f/

f

f

f

/fə̆ˈf/

ff

ƒ

ƒ

x0192

p g sh th dh o

/p/

p

p

p

/pə̆ˈp/

pp

ƥ

ƥ

x01A5

/p/

p

Ƥ

Ƥ

x01A4

/g/

g

g

g

/gə̆ˈg/

gg

ĝ

ĝ

x011D

/g/

g

ğ

ğ

x011F

/ʃ/

sh

S

S

/ʃə̆ˈʃ/

ssh

Ś

Ś

x015A

/θ/

th

T

T

/θə̆ˈθ/

tth

Ť

Ť

x0164

/ð/

dh

D

D

/ðə̆ˈð/

ddh

Ð

Ð

x00D0

/ɔ/

o

O

O

/ˈɔ/

ó

Ó

Ó

x00D3

/ɑ/

ö

Ö

Ö

x00D6

' ml ch j h

/ʔ/

'

'

'

/ml/

ml

M

M

/ʧ/

ch

C

C

/ʧə̆ˈʧ/

cch

Ç

Ç

x00C7

/ʤ/

j

j

j

/ʤə̆ˈʤ/

jj

ĵ

ĵ

x0135

/h/

h

h

h

punctuation

.

.

.

,

,

,

?

?

?

’

’

’

x2019

!

!

!

-

-

-

(

(

(

)

)

)

"

"

"

¶

¶

¶

x00B6

numerals

to be determined

1

1

1

2

2

2

3

3

3

4

4

4

5

5

5

6

6

6

7

7

7

8

8

8

9

9

9

10

0

0

-->

ligatures & morphological glyphs

en̤i, -ni

რ

x10E0

ejh, -ejhi

ს

x10E1

-lle

ľ

x013E

-te

უ

x10E3

î-...-î

ტ

x10E2

პ

x10DE

ჟ

x10DF

ligatures: adjacent barred glyphs

mi

Ⴀ

x10A0

mí

Ⴔ

x10B4

mï

Ⴕ

x10B5

mai

Ⴁ

x10A1

mai

Ⴖ

x10B6

mai

Ⴗ

x10B7

im

Ⴂ

x10A2

im

Ⴘ

x10B8

im

Ⴙ

x10B9

ijh

Ⴃ

x10A3

ijh

Ⴚ

x10BA

ijh

Ⴛ

x10BB

ip

Ⴄ

x10A4

ip

Ⴜ

x10BC

ip

Ⴝ

x10BD

ig

Ⴅ

x10A5

ig

Ⴞ

x10BE

ig

Ⴟ

x10BF

jhi

Ⴆ

x10A6

jhi

Ⴠ

x10C0

jhi

Ⴡ

x10C1

jhai

Ⴇ

x10A7

jhai

Ⴢ

x10C2

jhai

Ⴣ

x10C3

aim

Ⴈ

x10A8

aim

Ⴤ

x10C4

aim

Ⴥ

x10C5

aijh

Ⴉ

x10A9

aijh

ა

x10D0

aijh

ბ

x10D1

aip

Ⴊ

x10AA

aip

გ

x10D2

aip

დ

x10D3

aig

Ⴋ

x10AB

aig

ე

x10D4

aig

ვ

x10D5

pi

Ⴌ

x10AC

pi

ზ

x10D6

pi

თ

x10D7

pai

Ⴍ

x10AD

pai

ი

x10D8

pai

კ

x10D9

gi

Ⴎ

x10AE

gi

ლ

x10DA

gi

მ

x10DB

gai

Ⴏ

x10AF

gai

ნ

x10DC

gai

ო

x10DD

Character Details

kkvsķkk

Marks a "stuttered" consonant, which is pronounced twice in quick
succession. All consonants have a stuttered variant, with the exception of
y,
ln,
ml, and
h.
Two-curve consonants carry the stuttered mark on the middle line of the
glyph, not outside the curve:
ķkkvsťtt.

Question words' vowels change;
this is written as two dots next to the character. Eg,JornႰ "árTæjhorní Árthae
means I am Arthaey, whereas
JornႰ "ärTæjhorní Ärthae?
means Am I Arthaey?.

æae

Because
æae
is always stressed, there is no version of this glyph with a stress
mark. The only modified version of the glyph is the question version:
Æäe

რ-eni

The first person verbal conjugation has a special glyph, distinct from
the phonetic glyphs you would expect. Eg,EnirEvრenirevni
begins with the phonetic glyphs for
Enieni-
and ends with the conjugation glyph
რ-(e)ni.
Compare with
nĳni, using the final form of
i.

ს-ejh

Like the first person verbal conjugation
რ-(e)ni
above, the very-close-friend conjugation also has a special glyph.
Eg,nEJIvსnejhivejh
begins with the phonetic glyphs for
EJejh-
and ends with the conjugation glyph
ს-ejh.
Compare with
EĲejh, using the final form of
jh.

..vs??

The punctuation marks for a period and a question mark are the
same. This is because question words are marked with two dots, making it
unnecessary to otherwise mark a sentence as a question.

’’

Used for contractions, like an apostrophe in English. Eg,alunsaalunsa
is frequently contracted to
’sa'sa.
Final adverbs are also commonly contracted:
kEpkep
becomes
k’k'.

--

Only used when writing a prefix
(alun-alun-), suffix
(-yu-yu), or circumfix
(e-ee-e) by itself.
It is never used to form compound words like in English.

¶¶

Marks the beginning of a text; useful to orient writing direction, since
any of 4 possible orientations are allowed and the glyphs of this script
look similar. Thus, knowing the orientation as soon as possible prevents
confusion.

""

Marks a foreign word, like italics or quotation marks in English. Eg,Jor haláin te "trijhor haláin te "tree"
means
Haláin is "tree",
glossing an Asha'ille word in English, within an Asha'ille sentence.
Note that the English word is spelled phonetically (or the closest
approximation). Also note that the symbol is only used at the beginning
of the foreign word — it does not surround the word, as quotes do
in English.

ტî-...-î

The morpheme î-...-î is a circumfix,
equivalent to the English -er suffix that
turns a verb into the "doer" of the verb. Eg,EmælIvemaelîvto write
becomes
ტmælimaeliwriter.
The two
Iî
characters are not written phonetically for this morpheme:
*ImælI.

უ-te

The morpheme -te, a politeness marker,
has its own glpyh
უ,
rather than being spelled out phonetically
te
(/te/, not /tɛ/, despite being spelled with an
e). Eg,dErპSárdershárleadervsdErპSárუdershárteleader, sir,
not
*dErპSárte.
A variant on this glyph is frequently used as the signature or seal of a ruler.

krvskპrkr

To clearly distinguish two right-side consonants that might otherwise be
somewhat difficult to parse, the connecting line between them is drawn
longer than normal. A left-side separator also exists.

mim ivsႠmi

Adjacent "barred" characters have special ligature forms. Instead of
drawing the bar through each of the characters, only one bar is drawn in
between them. Note that, in a word-final position, the final form of the
second barred character is used, rather than the ligature. Eg,DEm Ayadhem aiye
(m followed by
ai in a separate word) vsႠnYESmainyesh
(adjacent m and
ai as a ligature) vstEmĀtemai
(adjacent m and
ai, but with final form).